


In Sickness and In Health

by bluesey182



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: F/M, Sick Fic, spoiler free
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:55:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21567979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesey182/pseuds/bluesey182
Summary: tumblr prompt to write a sickfic. hope you enjoy :)
Relationships: Jude Duarte/Cardan Greenbriar
Comments: 5
Kudos: 239





	In Sickness and In Health

Cardan could tell from the moment they woke up that Jude was not well. She tried her best to explain away her cough to him and tried to soothe her sore throat with several pots of tea that she had delivered to their rooms throughout the day. By the time they had a meeting with the council, her eyes shone with fever and there was color high in her cheeks. Several attempts to get her to rest failed as she shot Cardan’s attempts down each time. He thought, sometimes, that she took her place as High Queen too seriously. She was allowed to rest and demand a break for food and take a few hours with him alone in their rooms, but she continuously pushed herself until she could no longer do so. He knew, without her having to admit it to him, that she believed she had to push herself harder than him to get even half of the respect from the fae folk that he had. He also knew without being told that this was true, and he tried at every chance to command that respect from their subjects towards his wife. But, being a mortal, he feared they never would show her the reverence she deserved as Queen.

The council members filed in to the council room one at a time and slowly took their seats while they chattered amongst themselves. Cardan glanced at where Jude sat beside him–two seats sets side by side at the head of the table–and saw her leaning her head into her hands, her brow bright with a thin sheen of sweat. If he thought he could get away with it without her yelling at him, Cardan would send the council away and force Jude to rest. But alas, that would not stand. Instead they sat through the meeting for some time, Cardan largely tuning out every voice but Jude’s, and Jude continued to get more and more agitated. After some time, Cardan had had enough. He was about to dismiss the council after all when suddenly Jude–now standing in her place–fell into an aggressive coughing fit. Immediately Cardan was on his feet and reaching for her and, though she tried to shake him off, she finally relented to letting him help when the violence of the fit sent her pitching forward into the table. Cardan caught her just before she collapsed.

“None of you speak a word of this,” Cardan growled at the council before demanding them to leave. Once the room was clear, Cardan swooped Jude up into his arms and carried her to their rooms. Her skin felt too hot against his as she shivered, holding on to him like she never would have just a year ago. It was clear from the way she half-slept in his arms that she felt safe, something he knew she was not used to feeling for most of her life. The knowledge of it made his grip on her tighten out of a sense of protection. 

In their rooms he gently set her on their bed. Half dazed, she was too delirious to rid herself of her extravagant clothes. So Cardan made quick work of stripping the layers off for her as she cooed at him to not bother. From the wardrobe he pulled one of his own shirts–she loved to sleep in them and, damn, did she look good when she did–and slipped it over her head before tucking her beneath the blankets.

“What can I do?” Cardan asked her gently, sitting down on the bed beside her and dabbing at her brow with his sleeve to clear the perspiration away.

“I’m fine, I just need to rest for a minute,” she slurred in her sick state.

“You are not fine, you are sick. And I’m going to take care of you. Now, my Queen, tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

“Cardan–,” she tried.

“Jude,” he replied in the same tone of voice. He saw the moment she relented–her whole body sinking back into the mattress as she let herself relax–finally. She allowed herself to lean over and rest her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head and smoothed her damp hair away from her face.

“Send for Vivi,” she told him, “tell her to get some cold medicine and cough drops.” Cardan did not understand what either of those things were, but nonetheless passed the information on to the guards outside their doors to have sent to Jude’s oldest sister. With that done, he went back to his wife. At first glance–she appeared the be sleeping, curled up on her side as her teeth clattered from the chill of her fever–but then her eyes opened, startling Cardan with the gloss over her beautiful brown eyes that now glowed in an entirely different way.

“What else can I do?” He asked desperately.

“I want some chicken soup,” she whispered.

“What is that?” He asked sincerely, not being familiar with that particular mortal food. With a laugh, she explained it to him–chicken and carrots boiled in a broth (he didn’t understand what “noodles” were so she told him to not worry about it) and he relayed the description to another guard outside their chambers to bring to the kitchen staff. With the promise of food on the way, Jude finally let her eyes drift closed. Cardan joined her on the bed, leaning on one elbow as he stroked her dark hair away from her face. Even in sickness she was beautiful.

“Cardan?” Lost in his train of thought, he almost missed her voice. But that sound could reach him meters underwater or miles across land. There had never before been a better sound in the world than that of her sweet voice.

“Yes, darling?” He purred.

“Hold me,” she insisted, “I’m cold.”

“I believe I remember Taryn telling me we’re supposed to get your temperature down, not warm you up with my body.”

“But your body is so nice.”

“Alas, my sweet villain, flattery will get you nowhere in this situation. I’ll get some cold rags.”

Despite her protests, Cardan walked into the bathroom and gathered some cloths. He wetted them with cool water and brought them back into the room where Jude now had the covers kicked off down by her feet. “I thought you were cold?” He teased.

“I was,” she replied, “but now I’m burning up.” Cardan chuckled at her strange mortal ailments and layed a cloth over her forehead. Instantly she relaxed a bit and let her eyes drift closed again. Gratification caused Cardan’s mouth to split into a grin. The same grin he knew drove Jude crazy in more ways that one. His grin quickly fell when she was hit with another coughing fit that sent her into a sitting position as she tried to catch her breath. Helpless but desperate to be helpful, Cardan lamely placed his hands on her shoulders and held her up as she coughed into her hands. When the fit subsided, he stacked two pillows behind her to help prop her up and guided her back against them.

“You know,” she croaked. “It’s pretty unfair that you can’t get sick.”

“Would you like me to try real hard to catch your illness?”

“Yes. Let me cough in your mouth.”

A knock on the door interrupted Cardan’s laugh and soon after Vivi came stomping in to their rooms. Nevermind the fact that no one was supposed to enter without his say so. He tried not to be irritated with the situation since Vivi was, in fact, the Queen’s sister.

“I can’t believe you’re sick,” Vivi said like an acquisition. Like somehow it was Jude’s fault. She dropped a plastic bag that said “THANK YOU” on it way too many times onto the nightstand and began pulling the contents out of it. There were a few bottles of colorful liquid, a flimsy box, something that read “Vaporub” and a stuffed whale. At both Jude’s and Cardan’s questioning looks at the stuffed animal, Vivi crossed her arms over her chest. “Oak wanted to help.” She thrust the animal into Jude’s arms. “Now love that thing or I’ll kick your ass.”

“Why are you in such a mood?” Jude demanded. 

“Oak has been driving me nuts these last few days.”

Once again there was a knock on the door. Cardan left the sisters to talk about their brother in order answer it and was met with a servant holding a tray of food. What must have been the soup was in a bowl in the center of the tray and Cardan had to admit it smelled delightful. He took the tray from the servant, who bowed deeply before him, and shut the door with his foot. Back in the bedroom, Jude was holding a tiny plastic cup full of orange liquid and scowling at it like it had offended her.

“Jude,” Vivi said, “you poisoned yourself for months on end, you can take the stupid cough medicine.”

Cardan, shocked by this statement, said, “What?!”

Jude, annoyed by this statement, said, “Bite me.”

In one swift motion Jude put the cup to her lips and threw the contents back in one swallow. She grimaced. “Almost twelve years away from the mortal world and they haven’t managed to make this shit taste any better than when we were kids,” she choked out while motioning with her hand for Cardan to pass her a glass of water, which she promptly threw back in the same manner as the medication.

“Your soup is here,” Cardan said, indicating the tray of food now sitting on the bedside table. Jude accepted it gratefully and sipped at the broth in her spoonful. She grimaced again.

“Needs salt,” she said. At Cardan’s face, she glowered at him. “It’s on my desk in the other room.”

Well, he had said he’d help however she wanted him to… Carrying the pack of salt like it was a bomb, Cardan brought it to his waiting wife who soon after dumped what must have been half the container into the soup. Cardan and Vivi both watched with twin expressions of revulsion as Jude took another bite of the soup and smiled to herself.

“Now,” Vivi said abruptly, “if that’s all you needed, I promised Oak I would take him to a movie, so I must be leaving.” Without even waiting for a response, she turned around on her heel and dramatically left the room in the same fashion she had burst into it. When Cardan turned back to Jude, exhaustion was pulling at her face. She had eaten half the bowls’ contents, set the rest aside on the table, and was now watching him with a sort of wistfulness. He took Vivi’s place beside the bed and combed Jude’s silky brown hair behind her ears using his fingers.

“I’m tired,” his wife said.

“Sleep, my love,” he suggested gently.

“Will you stay with me?” Jude was already laying back down, curling up into a fetal position with the blankets pulled over her once more. Cardan shucked off his clothes until he was in his sleepwear–which was nothing but skin–and crawled into bed with her, curling up behind her on the bed and wrapping his tail gently around her wrist in the way he knew comforted her.

“Of course,” he whispered as her breathing got deeper. “Of course.”


End file.
